


To be Loved

by Watashi_wa_Okami



Series: Lost and Found [1]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, But also being badass fighters, But especially Natsu, But it's okay because they're in a Club, Canonical Character Death, Child Abuse, Childhood Memories, Emotionally Repressed, Eventual Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, False Memories, Family Angst, Family Issues, Family Loss, Foster Care, High Schoolers being High Schoolers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, New Family, OOC, Out of Character, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Skeletons In The Closet, They all suffer a little, Trust Issues, monsters in the closet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:27:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watashi_wa_Okami/pseuds/Watashi_wa_Okami
Summary: Natsu never cared, he learned not to. So long as his sister is alright. That's all he ever needed and wanted.“How could only one of us fall through the cracks?” Wendy suddenly says and they all look at her. “We’re siblings. They made sure I was alright. Why? Why did only one of us fall through? Shouldn’t it have at least been both?”Until he realizes that he's always needed and wanted far more. But denial made dealing with the pain easier.





	1. The Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Major Character Death really only in the first chapter.

“Three for two is a fair deal, I guess.” A teen boy says before slitting his own throat with an already bloodied knife. Blood sprays across the kitchen as the dead body falls limp. The knife held firm in the grip of a cooling body, still on his throat where he lays.

Natsu looks at the body, extremely hesitant. He looks at his feet, his blood covered feet.

“MOOOMMY! DADDY!” The voice of a young girl cries out, crying out for her unhearing parents.

“Wendy...” The living child says, his voice monotone, broken. He walks out of the kitchen to a hallway of doors. He walks over the body of his father, ignoring how sticky the soles of his feet are. He looks at his mother’s face, her eyes and mouth still wide open in a permanent scream. He looks up and ignores his parents and heads to one of the closed doors. He grabs the door handle, vaguely away of how much turning the knobs hurts his cut hands. He opens the door and the screams volume increases tenfold, yet he just smiles at his younger sister. “Wendy. Wendy...” Natsu says, his voice full of a sad happiness. He closes the door behind him and looks at the blood trail he’s leaving everywhere.

“MOMMY! DADDY!” Wendy screams from her spot on the floor, the tower she had been trying to build had failed. Natsu looks beside the door and turns the light off so Wendy doesn’t see all the blood on him.

“Wendy, shh. What’s wrong?” He knows full well what the issue is, but their parents have been working on getting her to articulate her problems. He wasn’t going to stop that now.

“N-nii-san?” Wendy questions and stops her screaming. She wipes one of her eyes and looks up at Natsu with big, round, brown eyes. Innocent brown eyes.

“Are you alright?” Natsu asks and sits in front of her.

“My to-tower fell.” She says and her bottom lip begins trembling.

“No, no, it’s alright, don’t cry. Here, let me help you.” Natsu wipes his bloodied, cut hands on his shirt, ignoring the sting it caused him, and he grabs the larger blocks. “Here, this is a nice base.” He says and sets out six equal blocks, making sure to choose red colored blocks. “You can build on these, I know you can, so don’t cry.”

“Okay… will you help me?” She asks and Natsu looks at his sisters irresistible eyes.

“I gotta do something really quick.” He says softly. “So, you start. I’ll be back. And… and don’t leave this room. Okay, do not leave this room. I’ll be right back. Okay?”

“Okay, Nii-san.” Wendy says, too absorbed in her building blocks. Natsu opens the door just a crack, looks back at the girl, before slowly closing it behind him. She hardly blinks an eye at the specks of blood left on her wooden blocks. He looks back down the hallway, all three bodies visible to him again, but he doesn’t feel anything. Again, he walks past them and grabs the home phone. He punches in the three well-known numbers and it rings two times.

“911, what’s your emergency?” A kind female voice asks and Natsu looks to his dead family.

“My family’s dead.”

“Oh my...” The woman whispers but Natsu catches it. “Please answer my questions if it is safe for you to.” Natsu nods out of habit before realizing she can’t see him and gives a small hum as an affirmation. “May I have your phone number and address.”

“I don’t know the phone number.” Natsu says, brows pulled together.

“That’s alright,” She says in her sweet voice. “May I have your address?”

“I live on Stonybrook Street.” Natsu says. “I… I don’t know the number. But it’s a red house with a blue door, you can’t miss it. My pah...,” he pauses for a moment and bites his lip. “Parents picked the colors.” Natsu says, and tears threaten to spill from his eyes.

“Alright, alright, shh. Hey, young man, and what’s your name?”

“I’m Natsu. Natsu Dragneel.”

“Okay, Natsu. And what’s your favorite color.”

“Re-oh. Uh.” He says, looking at the deep red blood on his person, the blood that used to be his favorite color. “How about. Um. Blue. Blue is my favorite color.” He decides, thinking of his mother’s hair, and his sister’s hair.

“That’s a pretty color.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“My favorite color is gold.”

“Gold? That’s a pretty color, too.” Natsu says.

“Yes, I think it is.” She says, a smile in her voice.

“Um, what’s your name?”

“Oh, well I’m Layla.”

“Miss Layla,” Natsu begins and turns his back to his family, “can you make sure to not split me from my sister?”

“Your sister?”

“Wendy.”

“Of course.” Layla says and pauses for a moment. “Of course. What’s your sister up to?” The woman hesitantly asks.

“She’s playing with her toys.” Natsu says. “She’s in her room.” Natsu says and looks back down the hall, consequently seeing his parents bodies.

“Why aren’t you playing with her?”

“Oh, I will go play with her.” Natsu says, eyes stuck on his mother’s face. “I just had to call you first.” Natsu says in a monotone voice. The sirens are right outside his house, he hadn’t noticed them before. The red and blue lights filter through the windows but Natsu doesn’t smile. “Oh, they’re here.” Natsu tells Layla. “So, I guess it’s time for you to go.”

“Yes it is.” Layla agrees. “Listen to those men, alright?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And, Natsu?”

“Yes?”

“I’ll do what I can for you and your sister.”

“Okay... Thank you, Miss Layla.” Natsu hangs up. On the other side of the line, Layla begins to weep. The child sounded too young, and so sweet.

The police kick the door open as Natsu hangs up the phone. They look around the room, and when they spot Natsu and the dead bodies their eyes go wide.

“Holy shit...” The first officer says, flashlight on the bodies.

“Is that the witness?” Another adds, their light on Natsu. Natsu shields his eyes from the bright light and but his face remains apathetic.

“That’s really bright, sir.” Natsu says and the officer takes his light off of Natsu’s face. The many officers come into the house and other men come in and start marking things. They all begin saying things and one reaches for Natsu. “NO!” The boy screams and jumps back. He looks up at the officer, both shocked by the interaction. He then races to his sister’s room. He opens the door and sees her looking at him with wide eyes, her tall tower forgotten.

“Nii-san, what’s wrong?” She asks and Natsu sighs. “What are those lights? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Stay here.” He says again and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Two officers are standing right beside him, curious as to what had happened. “My sister’s in there. Can you… can you do something about… about my family, first? I don’t want her to see it.” Natsu shyly admits.

“Of course.” One of them says. “Can you tell us what happened.”

“My brother....” Natsu starts and tears fall from his eyes. “I made my brother mad. And he… and they… And now… ” Natsu tries to get the words out but he fails, suddenly hit by what had happened. And why. He just collapses and begins sobbing but tries to muffle his own sobs with a fist. As Natsu tries to speak the other men cover the bodies and then get Wendy. She sees the mess but just thinks Natsu was messing around with the blankets and some red paint. The officers that were trying to comfort the boy suddenly are shocked as Natsu cleans himself up and follows after his sister, distracting her from the blood and talking about how he was trying to paint her a pretty sunset. A fake smile on his face as he talks about the whole fake event. The officers that see the interaction get completely weirded out by the child’s spin, scared by what that may mean for what actually happened.

All the neighbors are outside, watching from behind the yellow tape. When Natsu sees them he says nothing, but Wendy spots a few friends.

“Roger! Hey, Roger!” Wendy shouts out, waving her hand around to catch his attention.

“Hey, Wendy!” The kid screams back but his mother grabs his shoulder. “Mum?” All the adults are staring at Natsu, the child who’s getting the blood cleaned off of him. He looks up and sees all the eyes. Some are angry, some blame him, some are pitying him, some are just too confused. He looks down, trying not to let it all affect him.

Scared of what the future will hold for him and his sister.


	2. I Love You

After their parents died in the accident, they were placed in foster care. The first few homes loved the idea of two sweet children. However, Natsu's night terrors and unwillingness to befriend the adults made them not want him. Yet he would adamantly refuse to leave Wendy's side, and Wendy his side. They were forced through the system, house by house, and as Natsu grew older he became more energetic, more clingy. He was never a violent child, but rather an overly protective brother. And if anyone even _looked_ at Wendy the wrong way, well, it never ended well for them. He became more protective over the years until the system seemed to have enough of him.

Or, more precisely, as they  _ kindly _ put it, 'had enough of him dragging Wendy down.'

When Natsu first heard that, he was nine, and the second time he was ten. They had been in the system for three years and Wendy was coming on seven. Natsu never spoke to their agent with Wendy and today is no exception. Natsu looks at their decently new agent. The person, whose name Natsu didn't care to remember because he knew she wouldn't stay long, looked stoically at the pinkette when she relayed the news.

"It has been decided," she says, files in her hand. No eye contact and all business. "You will be moving to a new home." She says and only then does she look at the ten year old. She's representing him, Natsu knows that. So  _ she _ decided this would be best for the siblings, for Wendy. And Natsu knows that Wendy would have gotten adopted earlier if it weren't for him, but he had promised. And she doesn't need to say  _ Without Wendy _ for Natsu to know that the woman is so 'politely' saying: You're sister is better off without you, so I'm splitting you up. 

"No." Natsu says and grips the arms of his chairs until his knuckles are bleached white.  _ No. _ He clenches his jaw and glares at the woman. He can tell that she's scared. He has a sort of unrivaled reputation of being rather... difficult. The last time someone tried to split him and Wendy, he broke the person's nose. But this time, Natsu knows he won't get away with that. He was kept from Wendy for over a month in a sort of place for troubled teens and he got out rather quickly because he was desperate to stay by Wendy's side. He can't imagine they'd let him get away with it a second time.

"It's already been decided." The worker says and pretends to go through her files to distract  herself from the angry child in front of her. "You will stay here in our ward for a few days until your new foster parent picks you up. Wendy will be sent to a home where people are excited to accept a kind, young girl into their family." Natsu looks at the woman, creases his brows and contemplates what she's saying. And he realizes that Wendy may be put with people he doesn't know. His stomach drops before twisting in an uncomfortable knot and he scrunches up his face because he _doesn't know what to do_. His grabs the chair tightly and goes rigid and internal turmoil. Like last time, he feels like the only thing he can do is just watch in horror as his family is torn apart and-and-and-

He breathes.

He closes his eyes and softens his features as he imagines Wendy in front of him. A small pout on her face as she smooths out the wrinkles on his forehead.  _ "You're too young for that, silly!" _

And he smiles. It's a sad soft smile that the social worker had never seen on the boys face before. When the pinkette opens his eyes, she doesn't know how to react to the moistened eyes and the depth of emotion in their emerald depths.

"Um..." Natsu begins, sounded timid for the first time as far as this social worker knows. She looks up at him, her face showing her shock. He takes a deep troubled breath, and the ten year old looks the woman straight in the eye, the woman who didn't dare look him in the eye earlier. "Can you tell me about the family?" He asks, the answer far more important than his previous anger. The social worker looks at him, tilts her head, and then goes back to her folders, but Natsu can tell she's actually searching for something this time.

"Well, they're an older couple, and have taken in..." She finds the folder and opens it. "A number of foster children, and they even adopted a few. All the children they adopted have grown up and left the house leaving them empty nesters."

"Do they want Wendy?" Again, the worker looks at Natsu as if he were an enigma, which, he can guess that he is one to her.

"Yes, they do, actually." She says and turns a page. "They always wanted a little girl but they accepted any child paired to them. They've been in the system ever since they discovered they couldn't bare children." She says and looks back at the pinkette. "Yes, they want her. And they are kind people, I have of course personally met with them."

"How old are they?"

"Why does that matter?" She asks, but flips to the first page regardless.

"Well, I don't want anyone else to leave her. If I do." He pauses with a wince at the mere idea of leaving her, and looks to his lap for a moment before looking back at the woman. "I want this family to adopt her and be with her for a long time."

"They're in their mid fifties." The social worker states and Natsu nods his head. "I've told them how Wendy is a calm, sweet young girl, which she is, and they're very excited to meet her." Natsu looks at the social worker.

"I guess I shouldn't meet them." He says and the social worker hesitantly nods her head. "There's no way I could, could I?" Again, the social worker doesn't know what to do.

"Perhaps when they pick her up, you can." She pauses. "Of course, only if you prove that you can handle yourself in front of them." The social worker adds, as if suddenly remembering Natsu's reputation. Which, he can't be surprised. He's shocked she agreed to him meeting them.

"When will that happen?"

"In two days."

"And how far apart will we be?" Natsu asks and he sees the woman freeze, and that's a bad sign. They both feel the air between them go still as that question could unleash a destructive fire.  "Well..."

"Just say it." He growls at her hesitancy. It brings back that uncomfortable feeling in his gut and he doesn't like it. He doesn't like it one bit.

"You'll be roughly a five hour drive away from each other." Natsu freezes and looks at her.

"Five hours." He whispers and slumps in his chair and the social worker begins to feel for the pinkette. "Five hours." He repeats and he clenches his jaw again. He blinks multiple times and the woman can't believe the infamous trouble child is about to cry. And, for everything she heard about him, she seems to finally understand that he's still a child. A child very attached to his younger sister. "Will I be allowed to see her?" He asks and he just sounds broken. His eyes which always hold a fire are now a dull burning ember. She chews on her bottom lip for a moment and creases her brows. She knows she has no good news for him, and absentmindedly she wonders why all of this is happening. She's supposed to be helping children. When these kids were thrown onto her by a tired male with a broken nose, she assumed the worst and treated them, Natsu, as such. And now she's rethinking her whole approach and just feels like a failure.

But it's too late.

"I could discuss that with the foster parents-"

"But it's probably a no." Natsu says and cuts her off.

"... It might not be." The social worker says to try and be positive. Positive like she should have always been with him. Another thing she failed at. He had always been snippy with her, and she him. It became the foundation of their thin relationship.

"Oh yeah? Well, then tell me who's willing to take me in, huh?" Natsu says and sits back up in his chair. "I'm a delinquent, they know that, you have to tell them my track record. So who's going to take me?"

"A woman with no children, but she’s been willing to take in children such as yourself for a few years now." She says and Natsu just scoffs. But he scoffs to hide the wince and a tinge of fear. People don't volunteer to take in children like him. They just _don't_.

"Can I speak with Wendy? Have you told her yet?" He croaks out and the words hardly get through his suddenly constricted throat. When was the last time he had water?

"We haven't told her yet, of course you can speak with her." She says and Natsu stands up.

"Okay, well, thanks for answering my questions." Natsu says as gruff as he typically does, however she hears an odd new edge and figure out that he's trying to be polite. In his own way.

"You really care for her." The worker says as Natsu is about to leave the room. He looks back, shocked by her words.

"Of course I do." He states and leaves the room. It had been obvious in everything he did.

When the siblings prepare for bed, Natsu picks up her favorite book,  _ The Princess' Dragon _ , and begins tucking her into bed.

"Hey, Wen, we need to talk." Natsu begins and she just looks up at him.

"What'd Miss Sydney say?" She asks in her squeaky voice and Natsu smiles at her. He'll never know how she became so polite while always being around him.

"Was that her name?" He says and she chuckles at him.

"Yes, silly." She scolds him and he pokes her tummy.

"No, you don't call me silly, I'm supposed to call you silly, silly." He states and she pouts. "Oh, I guess it's okay." He says with a solemn face that quickly turns into a sad smile. "Yeah, it's about what Miss Sydney said."

"Are we moving again?" She asks, and Natsu looks at his six year old sister who's birthday is in a month. She had already been through seven different houses in the past three years, the house they're in being their eighth. And he can see that this may be her chance.

"Yes."

"Oh. Well, that's okay." She says and snuggles up closer to him.

"Listen, Wendy." He pokes her nose. "I'm not going with you."

"But you just said-"

"We are both leaving."

"But?" He says and he can already see tears sparkling in her brown eyes.

"We're going to different houses." He says and she jumps at that.

"No." She states harshly, a tone he had never heard her use before. "No, they can't-you can't-no!"

"Wendy, listen-"

"No! They just can't!" Wendy shouts at him, something she's never done.

"Yes they can!" Natsu raises his voice at her, something she's not used to. He then quiets down and keeps an ear out for the adults they live with. "Listen, Wendy. You are going to a great home, and I need you to do something for me." He says but she refuses to look at him. "Look at me." She doesn't. "Look at me, Wendy." This time she does, tears streaming down her face. Natsu's heart breaks at the sight of her tormented face. He never wanted her to experience this kind of pain. But, he knows that even if she loses him, she won't lose her next family. So he wipes the tears off her face and smiles at her. "They are great people, and I'll meet them to make sure of that. So, you've got to be the kind, sweet girl we all know you are. And never forget that I will always love you."

"I could never forget that. But, Nii-san-"

"And no matter what," he cuts her off, "no matter what may happen, I will find you again."

"You promise?"

"I promise." 

“But you also promised you wouldn’t leave me.” Wendy says, tears starting anew.

“Shh, shh, Wen, shh. It’s, it’s okay, it’s okay, I-I pinky promise this time. It’s a pinky promise. Okay? Okay? Shh.” He says, and he feels like he’s about to break because dammit she’s right. He did promise that. He promised that for her, and now this promise is for the both of them and he _can't_ break it.

“P-pinky, this time? That means you have to follow through.”

“No matter what.” He finishes for her and they hook pinkies. _No matter what_.

Two days later, days Natsu spent reassuring and consoling Wendy, they are brought to a neutral location to meet the couple that agreed to take in Wendy. As soon as Natsu sees them he feels a calming vibe and knows they will never hurt Wendy. They will love her and she will love them, and he can't ruin that. They aren't looking for an energetic young boy, they want Wendy and only Wendy. And with only Wendy around, they’ll probably adopt her.

He snarls at even the slightest possibility that she would get moved to a different house without him. They better adopt her.

When the couple sees Natsu, Natsu realizes they might not have known about him. They order food at the restaurant they decided to meet at, however Natsu doesn't order anything, not wanting either party to unwillingly pay for him, although he pushes Wendy to at least buy a chocolate shake, something she can never resist. She ends up buying a whole meal. But she also remains oddly silent, timidly sipping on her shake while side glancing the couple.

"Wendy." Natsu says to her and nudges her side. She looks at him then to the understanding couple across from them. They know the routine when it comes to first meeting foster children. "Talk to them." He says and she timidly pokes his side. He looks at her, his face showing his obvious confusion.

"You first?" She asks and he pokes her back.

"I can't baby you forever." He says but shrugs with a smile. They both ignore that this could be the end of that ‘forever.’ He looks at the couple and they can sense that he's about to speak with them. "Hi, I'm Natsu." He greets. "I... I think I like you guys." He states and they shift, trying not to show their discomfort. "I know you only want Wen, and I'm sure I wouldn't fit in with you guys anyway, Wendy and I are opposites. You'll love her." He says and glances at his sister. "She's a bit timid at first, I may be guilty, I definitely held her hand through a lot. But, once she opens up, she's just a sweet girl. Although, she hasn't hit her teenage phase yet." He teases the girl and her face goes bright red. "I'm just here because I wanted to meet you." He says and sends the couple one of his blinding smiles, a smile only his blood family had seen prior to the meeting. "Thank you for offering Wendy the home that she needs." He says and turns to Miss Sydney. "That's all."

"That's all?" She echos and Natsu nods, a smile still on his face.

"That's all." He repeats and stands up to leave, the social worker standing up after him.

"Well then, I will come by later and check up on everything, and then you'll be good to go." She says and grabs her purse. Natsu stands by the table, politely waiting, but his fist is clenched hard enough for his nails to dig into his skin.

Wendy just looks at Natsu, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Remember what I said." Natsu says to Wendy and the tears fall from her eyes. "Wendy." He says pointedly and she wipes her own tears, bites her lip and nods her head.

"Yup." She then forces a tight smile.

"C'mere." He says and Wendy practically launches at him as if it'll be the last hug they'll have, and she's afraid it will be. They hold on to each other for a long time, as if they could never be broken apart. As if they believed they would never be pulled apart. Natsu eventually breaks the hug, lightly pushes her away, and pats her on the head. "Here ya are." He says and passes her a small wrapped box. "It's not much, but open it on your birthday. And here's this, too." he says and passes her another larger box. "This is for next years birthday, so don't lose it." She looks at him, tears once again falling from her eyes.

"I di-didn' get you ahn-anything." She says, her voice trembling almost too hard to understand.

"That's alright, you've already given me enough." He says and kisses her forehead and wipes the new tears. "I love you."

"I-I love you too." She says and bites her trembling lip. He sends her a blinding smile once again.

"And this is for luck on your next big adventure." He says and gives her  _ The Princess' Dragon _ as a final gift.

"No, but this-this is yours from Daddy-"

"Oh please, you have much more use for it than I do." Natsu says, pressing the book into her hand. "I gotta go now, so I will see you... when I see you." He says, trying to not sound broken.

"Yeah... I'll see you. I love you." She repeats once more, gives him one final hug somehow with all the gifts in her hand, before stepping back and letting him leave. Natsu looks back once before leaving and watches Wendy's new foster parents comfort the child, delicately place the gifts in a bag, and guide her back to the table as their food arrives. He looks away before Wendy has the time to catch his eye.


	3. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now the story really begins, in a sense.

**Eight Years Later**

"We're here, Natsu." An older gentleman, Natsu's latest social worker, drives up to a house on the border of Magnolia. Natsu peaks out the window at the house, his single trash bag of possessions sitting on his lap.

"What's her name again?" Natsu blandly asks and Michael sighs. Natsu had never been open with him in any way, always rather bland and apathetic towards the older man.

"Lynda Graysher." The man says although he knows it's hopeless. "Don't do anything stupid." Natsu sighs and just looks at the man. It’s a look that causes the man’s grip to slightly tighten on his steering wheel. As if the pinkette were looking down on him in a way that makes his stomach twist in a knot and confusion flutter across his face.

"I've been in this system longer than you have,  _ Sir _ ." Natsu says and quirks his brow. "I know how to play the game. This is my last stop, isn't it?" The man parks the car before responding. He needs to calm himself first. Every time he is in a car with the kid, he always manages to grate on his nerves.

"... Yes." Natsu nods and hops out of the car.

"Well, let's get on with it."

They walk up to the house and Natsu spies signs of decay. The house is in need of a fix up, but it's obviously livable and passes the standards placed by the system. Michael knocks and they wait. And wait. He knocks again, but the rapid succession of knocks makes Natsu quirk a brow. He likes making the man uncomfortable, it’s an amusing pastime, but to think he had pushed the man to a clear desperation to be rid of him? Now that’s a new one.

Michael prepares to knock once more but they then hear the sound of cursing from behind the door. Michael is too focused on his relief of the door being unlocked that he fails to see the pinkette’s composure change. The laid back and carefree attitude becomes harder, his eyes colder and darkened by memories better left forgotten.

“There’s no reason for you to check up on me.” The words come out low, not quite in a growl but that is the missing touch to make it as animalistic as Michael knows the boy can be.

“That’s my job, Natsu.” Michael says and gives Natsu a confused look. But the look is forced and they both know it. Natsu also knows that Michael will ‘accidentally’ forget to check up on him.

“I’ll be nineteen soon.” The pinkette responds. The man can’t tell if the pinkette is trying to get Michael to not check up on him, or if the boy is trying to get the man to slip up.

“I’m responsible for you until then.” He states just for the record to show that he ‘tried’, and finally the door opens. It’s an older woman, graying hair splayed out like a mane around her head. She’s wearing a loose fitting dress, no bra, and doesn’t have a care in the world.

“Hello, Ma’am, I am Michael-”

“Yes, we’ve met.” She mercilessly cuts him off and looks to Natsu. She can see the hard edge in his eyes and raises her own brow in response. “And I’ve heard a lot about you.” Natsu stares back at the woman and they both size each other up, figuring out just what they’re dealing with.

“You can leave now.” Natsu says to his shocked social worker.

“Um, okay, ah, I’ll... check up on you and see how everything is.”

“Okay.” Natsu says blandly, knowing that he won’t see the man again.

“Yeah, yeah.” The woman tiredly waves him away. Michael looks between the two once more before deciding he can leave the two be. They’re practically made for each other in their rude disregard of him. “Come in.” She says and walks further into the house. Natsu follows after her and analyzes the rather bland room. “Typically they don’t just leave.”

“Yeah, well typically they actually care.” Natsu responds as they reach the bland kitchen, the white tainted with yellows and browns and the odd black. She sits and Natsu across from her. “Nice place you got here.” She eyes him for a moment and snorts.

“Sure.” She says then pulls out a cigarette and a light. Natsu eyes it for a minute and looks to the woman. “Yeah, yeah, I know I’m  _ advised _ to not smoke.” She says and Natsu can tell she really doesn’t care. He doesn’t either. There are other things more important to him than an older woman exercising her legal rights. “So, what’s your plan?”

“My plan?”

“You’ll be nineteen soon, and I could kick you out right then.” She states and looks into Natsu’s eyes, searching for something. She can’t find it so she just waits.

“I’ll get a job, find my own place, and be out of your hair soon.” He states and looks her right in the eye. “That’s my plan.” She can tell he isn’t saying something but she lets it slide. She had had one foster child before Natsu. She had been less closed off than the pinkette, but would rather starve than have any sort of heart-felt interaction with her. Lynda allowed the girl to be her own person and they got along fine.

She assumes Natsu will be the same way.

“If it doesn’t work out like you plan, you can stay after you’re nineteen.” She states and Natsu pauses for a moment and creases his brows. “And you’ll be finishing your schooling while you’re here.” She states and he drums his fingers on the table for a moment. He drums it in an odd rhythm that Lynda believes to be a song the pinkette must know, but through rhythm alone she can’t place it. After another moment, he seems to realize what he’s doing and abruptly stops.

“I’m not planning on going to college, there’s no need.”

“I don’t care what you do with your life.” She states and puts out her cigarette in a nearby tray. “But you will try for a good future while under this roof. Understand?” He chews on his inner lip and eyes her for a moment. This is odd. Strange, and in the same sense that he had immediately understood her through the curses that came past her door, he immediately finds himself at a complete and utter misunderstanding of the woman before him. Through a few simple words, he finds that he had been completely wrong about the woman and almost feels guilty for it.

“Fine.” He’ll play her game, at least until he understands more about the woman sitting across from him.

“You can call me Lynda.” She says but it isn’t in the cold way that he would have expected. She seems to shock him at each turn, and this new warm persona throws him through another loop.

After all the houses he had gone through, he had become good at understanding them before the worker even left. But, for the life of him, he can’t read this odd woman.

“Name’s Natsu.” Natsu tries for a warmer tone but he knows that isn’t something he really does. He isn’t sure if the light in his eyes is hostile or if he had summoned the warmth his father was known for, but, as he sees Lynda’s eyes light up, he assumes he achieved the latter. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad.

The first night, Natsu unpacks and looks around his bland room.

“It’s not much,” Lynda says and looks around the room, blowing her smoke into it. Natsu tenses and looks back at the woman and Lynda stares right at him. The ripple of his muscles bunching underneath his baggy shirt was hardly noticeable, and the slight raise of his shoulders could be put off as him simply breathing in, but under her stone eyes Natsu realizes that she, by some form of magic, has him pegged. “You don’t like it.”

“The room’s fine.” The response comes quick and slightly mechanical. The staring contest doesn’t last long as her eyes flick to the cigarette.

“I’m not talking about the room.” She says and holds up the cigarette, the second one he’s seen her have this day. Natsu eyes the cigarette then the woman.

“I said it’s fine.” He says but there’s a hard edge to his tone. He’s warning her, she realizes. From what or for what reason, she isn’t sure, but it causes her to freeze and by some unknown force, she decides to stay rather than leave it be. She leans on the door frame and although the pinkette’s face tells her to leave, she gets comfortable and watches the pinkette put away the last of his meager possessions.

“How many houses you been through?” Lynda asks, trying to get a read on the kid. Natsu raises a brow but chooses to just shrug. And yet she doesn’t leave.

“Look.” He says and turns a glare to the woman. “I won’t get nosy with you if you don’t with me.” He says but it’s not a question, although Lynda can’t decide if it’s a hidden threat too.

And, for everything that is telling her to leave, for every movement and sign in the boy that warns her to back off like a rabid dog, she seems to sense that, rather than it being a wild dog who prefers the streets, it reminds her of a wolf with its leg stuck in a trap. Howling and snarling, more comfortable with gnawing its own foot off than allowing for some help.

She should leave it, leave him, let him be like she did the girl before him.

But through the same unknown force that causes her to stay, she persists. And Natsu notices.

“I’ve only had one person here before you.” She states and can hear the silent growl that she half expects Natsu to actually project. “She’s the one who painted the room. I would never have picked  _ peach _ .” She snorts out a laugh and Natsu’s eyes flick to the walls before looking back to her. He’s bored, but the boredom he’s portraying is far more intense as if he wants her to understand how much he  _ doesn’t  _ want her to be there.

Again, the force keeps her grounded.

“I won’t smoke in your room, but this is my house too.” She says and if she notices his slight confusion on her wording, she doesn’t mention it. “School starts in a few months for you. My only rule is that you pass.”

“Great.” he says and sits on his bed.

“I’ll keep an eye on your grades.”

“Okay, I get it.” He slightly growls and Natsu finds himself at somewhat of a loss. She isn’t his mother, although she isn’t acting like it because she knows that one simple fact. It’s just a rule. An oddly considerate rule, but a rule nonetheless. And Natsu is glad there aren’t others that would be far more restraining.

“Good.” And with that she leaves the room. Natsu looks through the door and waits until she’s long gone before smirking.

“Hmph.” He stands and closes the door. “Perhaps she does care.” he realizes and once again looks around the room. “Now if only she had a lead on Wendy.” He thinks aloud, remembering that he had lost all leads on his sister when he was sent to the delinquent home.

Natsu finds a job within the third week of living with Lynda. It's as a dishwasher in a restaurant, but it’s decent pay. He works nearly every day and when he isn’t working, he’s catching up on school work per Lynda’s demands. He figured it would be easier to just obey her single rule.

“Okay, I don’t understand why I need to know this.” Natsu complains for the umpteenth time, books littered around the living room.

“So you can get through senior year. How many years did you fall back?” Natsu just glares at the woman and doesn’t answer. “Exactly. You need this.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Don’t you want to be successful?” Lynda growls back at the child, cigarette smoldering in her hand.

“I don’t give a shit about that.” As he sees it, that wouldn’t help him find Wendy, so why should he care?

“Do you want to work your whole life, do you want to be stuck in a low job, huh? No one wants that.” She scowls at him and Natsu crosses his arms and glares at the woman. And suddenly Lynda seems to remember just who she’s dealing with. And for the fear that trickles down her spine and spreads throughout her limbs, she holds onto the small amount of herself and her determination left untouched by the cold glare.

“And no one wants me but I’m still thriving.” Natsu says rather calmly, and that scares Lynda. She thinks she’d have preferred him yelling at her than the glare he’s sending her now. And even in his slouched position, Lynda instinctively fears him. Again, she pictures the wolf and finds herself standing her ground.

“No one wants you?” She repeats and he just stares at her. “Then you would be out on the streets, not in here being forced to study.”

“Don’t pretend you care, okay. Just… just don’t.” The hesitation, the fear hidden so well in his eyes, the anger that he uses to mask everything. It throws her off. She hit a nerve, but she isn’t quite sure what.

“If no one cared, then why are you still here?” it’s a rude thing to ask, she knows that very well. She’s asking him why he hasn’t just offed himself, because he doesn’t seem like the type of person to really care for anything. And she wants to know  _ why _ . She sees his jaw muscles work as he grinds his teeth and all she knows is that she's prodding at the same core issue. “We both know someone cares-”

“You don’t know anything.” He cuts her off harshly, his eyes dark and his brows furrowed. Anger, but not quite rage.

“Then  _ tell me _ .” She doesn’t know why she cares. She really doesn’t. She let the girl before him be her own person, lock her door and seldom make contact outside of when she herself initiated. So why is she doing this. But she knows. Because the moment she laid eyes on him she wanted to know just one thing.

_ Why is he so lonely? _

She doesn’t have a supernatural sense, he just had that look. A trashbag of possessions, and I-don’t-care attitude, the bland look in his eyes. Yet she just knew, right away, that he needs someone. And for some reason, she wants to be that person.

"What part of staying out of my fucking business did you miss?" He once again growls and she should have expected the 'fuck off' approach, although she's hoping to remedy that. "God damn, and here I thought they were tired of sending me to people trying to - _what_ \- fix me? I don't fucking need fixed! I need you to just - just stay in your fucking lane! They ever think of that?!" Now he's yelling but she can see there's more to it, hes using it to his advantage, the clever boy, whether or not he realizes it. "Just get the _fuck off my back or I'll make you_."

And there it is. The threat. He pauses, clearly having heard the words come from his mouth. She tries to act fearless, although looking a seething man in the eyes is enough to send any older woman to the hills. She knows he's hurt people, and she knows if he wanted she wouldn't be able to stop him or defend herself.

So why does she feel so confident? That after everything she has learned about him, she knows she's safe?

“Fine. It’s alright.” She says and adopts a soft smile and tries to hide just how much that shook her up. “You can leave your work to another day. Go get some rest.” He pauses and the anger drains out of him and bleeds into confusion. He twitches for a moment for - for something, before opting to just send her a questioning gaze.

“You... ya aren’t gonna kick me out?” He had threatened her, clear as day, angry and he knows he must have looked terrifying, he has threatened before, he knows how to scare people out of their wits. She out to be calling 9-1-1 behind her back, but he knows she isn't.

“No.” She says and Natsu jumps in response, utterly confused. “Go get some rest.” She repeats, and Natsu just looks at her, sure that she's being entirely honest but not sure _why_.

Once he’s out of the room, Lynda looks around the scattered papers. Trigonometry, and he was right to hate it, but he has a lot of catching up to do. She works on tidying the room making a pile of the books she found and the papers he used. His handwriting is God awful too, she notices. Once everything is clean she sits on the couch Natsu had used earlier, seeing everything as he saw it. A threatening, upset foster mom, another upset foster parent in his eyes. An unpredictable situation. And she wouldn't stop prodding no matter what he did, so he resorted to the one defense mechanism he knew would work, one way or another.  _ This is going to be difficult _ . She decides with a sigh and lights another cigarette. She draws in deeply and exhales the small cloud. It swirls in the air before disappearing.  _ This’ll take a while _ .

Through the summer, she managed to keep his studying going until he understood the basics and his handwriting got better. His grammar, well, that still needs improvement, but when he was ready she became excited for him. They had multiple fights, for sure. But none as emotionally jarring as the first one. And they became close enough that the fights were quickly forgotten.

Soon enough, school was only a week and a half away.

“You excited?” She asks as they sit at the dinner table, they’re having mac and cheese.

“Should I be?”

“Well, it’s what you’ve been working towards all summer, so yes, you should be.” She says and Natsu grumbles in response. “What was that?”

“I said I suppose.” He stabs the food. “I never liked school.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“It’s not the classes.” He says and takes a bite of his food. She waits for him to finish chewing so he can complete his thought. “It’s the people.” Lynda just nods in understanding. She knows his track record and all the fights he got in during his foster care days. There were a lot.

“Well, you know my rules.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He says and they continue eating in a comfortable silence, making small talk every now and then.

School comes up too quickly. A week before school starts they buy the uniform. It’s mainly white with red lining, and on the blazer pocket is the symbol for Fairy Tail High. It comes with an amber band that also has the schools symbol. Apparently these bands symbolize the persons grade. Green for freshman, blue for sophomore, orange for junior, and amber for senior.

“Do I really only get one?” Natsu says and analyzes the band. He’s sure that something will happen to it, it’ll probably be easy to forget.

“Seems like it.” Lynda says. “Want me to sew it on, so you don’t lose it?” Natsu just looks at her for a moment.

“Uh, sure, Lyn. If you want?”

“Lyn?” She echos. She knows it just slipped out, but it was an odd and interesting nickname that she had never had before.

“Oh, sorry, Lynda.”

“No, no, Lyn is fine.” She says with a wave of her hand. “Just place the uniform in my room and I’ll have it done before school starts.”

“Thanks, Lyn.” He tries the name again and she just smiles at him.

The day before his first day, he tries on the outfit once more. The band is awkward at first, having it attached to the outfit, but it works perfectly.

“How’s it feel?”

“Great.” He says, moving his arm around, testing it out. “Wow, you’re good at this.”

“Yeah, I had to do it a bit when I was younger. My dad made me fix up my brother’s clothes.”

“Brothers?” Natsu asks, realizing he knows next to nothing about Lynda.

“Yeah, I have two.” She says offhandedly. “One’s off exploring the world right now, probably.” She says as an afterthought. “The other is a Professor.” Natsu just nods at that. “Do you have any siblings?” Natsu just looks at her for a moment, and she can tell that, by his hesitancy, the answer should be yes.

“No.” Its such an obvious iie that he seems to internally cringe. Both of them know he has a sibling, so she just eyes him for a moment before shrugging.

“Anyone ever given you a nickname?”

“Other than my Mom’s pet names?” He says as a joke, a smile on his lips. “Nope.” Lynda tries to just act like that sentence is completely normal, but it just  _ isn’t _ . Even though he just lied about his family, the next second he is voluntarily giving her information she hadn’t really asked for. Precious information that even he is shocked he had given her.

“That’s a shame. A lot of cute nicknames could come from Natsu.” She says and hands him a hanger for the uniform. She acts as though it’s nothing, and for that he is grateful. “Don’t wrinkle it up, you want to look nice tomorrow.”

“Alright, alright, Jesus.” He says but smiles through it, obviously not actually annoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> The other chapters will be longer. This is a good ol' set up. Thank you very much for reading this! I started writing it forever ago and was gonna post it on fanfic.net, but on here I can do FAR more. mwahahaha!


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